by Hanna Peach
Jordan pointed his knife at the bar and gave Alyx a flick of his head. She nodded and they began to move towards it. There was a body sprawled over the bar top, his bare ass and legs hanging over the side. Several empty glasses, one broken, and several more sticky shot glasses sat in a thin film of brown liquid that was already staining the wood where the lacquer had been rubbed away.
She waited at her end of the bar as Jordan moved to the other end. On Jordan’s motion, they both leapt over the bar, swords first. But there was just another dead mortal lying across the floor like a used rug.
Alyx and Jordan checked the toilets and the staff room before returning to the main bar. Jordan threw a knife at the black boxy sound system behind the bar. There was a zapping noise and sparks as the system shorted it out, leaving the bar in a deathly silence that rang in Alyx’s ears.
“That music was doing my head in,” he said in a low voice. “Plus, now we can hear anyone sneaking up on us.”
Alyx nodded. “Have you seen anything like this before?”
Jordan shook his head as he began to move to the closest mortal, a woman, knelt over face down, with pale skin and beautiful green fish tattooed up her arms, which flung out in front of her as if she were trying to claw away. Her bare ass had bloody handprints on it. Jordan crouched by her, brushed her hair, sweaty and matted, out of the way and felt for a pulse.
Pulse. Yes. She should check to see if any of them were alive. Alyx moved, albeit a little numbly, around to where a dark-skinned man was slumped. She saw his face, mouth slack and wooden eyes staring at nothing, and knew before she reached him that he was dead.
Some moments later, they had checked all the bodies. They were all dead. Alyx was about to speak when the wail of sirens sounded outside.
Police. Mortal police.
Jordan swore. He grabbed her and pulled her down, out of sight. There was a screech of tires, and flashes of blue ebbed through the small barred windows and broken door, causing purple patches of color when mixing with the red light inside.
“Dammit,” Alyx hissed. “The survivor, the bodies outside, the blades.”
“We don’t have time to worry about that, Alyx. If they catch us they’ll want to arrest us. We don’t have time for that and I don’t want to have to fight them.”
Neither did she. If they had to fight against the police there would be casualties and she didn’t want to hurt these mortals.
“Staff entrance out the back,” Jordan hissed as he pushed her forward. “Go.”
They ran, crouched over, across the bar. She burst through the door into the small laneway at the back, Jordan behind her. The stench of the large industrial-sized bin by the wall hit her in the face along with the cool air.
As they flew up into the blackened sky, Alyx couldn’t help a look back towards the carnage they were leaving behind.
* * *
Alyx was grumbling as she moved alongside Jordan through the safety of the Saint Joseph underground. “That was the messiest, most unprepared take-down of a Darkened nest ever.”
Her mind was ticking over the events that just happened, assessing each move they made, where they went wrong. Somebody must have heard them fighting and called the cops. Well, really. Almost a dozen dead bodies all over the street wasn’t very discreet, was it? Of course somebody noticed.
Dammit, they should have been faster with their search of the bar. They should have put a mirage up. They should have killed the Darkened quicker. They bloody shouldn’t have tried to take on so many with just the two of them in the first place. If that had been a patrole under Symon’s orders, things would have turned out much differently.
“We killed that nest of Darkened. And we got away,” Jordan said. “That’s the important bit.”
“We didn’t even dispose of all the Darkened bodies.”
“So the mortals have the bodies. It’s not like they can prove anything about what they were.”
Alyx was barely listening to him. “And what about those blades that we lost?”
“At least the Darkened don’t have them now.”
“We never should have taken them on all on our own. We should have assessed the situation first and then—”
Jordan turned and grabbed her arm, startling her. “Jesus, Alyx. You’re not a lightwarrior anymore and that wasn’t patrole. Out here, right now, there are no rules, no precedence for whatever the hell is going on. We’re playing this by ear. It got messy. Deal with it. But we got out, alive. And we sent some of those damned creatures back to Hell. Right now, we need to take whatever win we can.”
Alyx stared at him. His forehead furrowed deeply and she could see the emotions behind those words swirling in his green eyes. Had they ever looked more complex and expressive, and…beautiful? “I-I’ve never seen you upset before.”
His grip on her arm loosened as he pressed his lips together. Then he snatched his hand away as if he just realized what he was doing. “I’m sorry. I just…I don’t know what came over me. The last few days…”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
He looked sheepishly at her as he took back her arm, holding it gently this time and studying it. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No.”
He didn’t move to take his hands away and she didn’t move to take her arm back either. His touch was soothing.
Alyx let a small smile loose on her lips. “I kinda like you this way.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What way?”
“All rage-y and emotional. You never show what you’re feeling.”
“It doesn’t serve anyone if I show my emotions off.”
She was beginning to understand this Rogue. He wasn’t cold and distant. He just couldn’t show his emotions. She understood what it was like to fear appearing weak.
“Sometimes…maybe it does.”
He laughed. “You don’t like cool, calm, collected Jordan?”
“Cool, calm, collected Jordan is too ‘together’. I have wondered sometimes if you ever feel anything at all.”
He looked uncomfortable. “I feel.”
“I’m just saying, I like you like this. It makes you…less untouchable. More real.”
In the dim of the tunnel, sharing this space, sharing this air, she felt the distance between them disappearing. She felt closer to him now than even yesterday. How a day can change everything, she thought.
“Come on,” he said as he gently nudged her. “We have a lot to tell the others.”
* * *
Tobias called a meeting as soon as Alyx and Jordan had returned to the underground station. It was almost like their meetings back in Aradale in Tobias’s office. Except they were sitting in one of the larger carriage compartments that had once been a dining compartment, now turned into a sort of all-purpose room.
Alyx looked around the compartment. Several of their group were missing: Marin was still recovering, Israel was lying in his compartment, Lukas had refused to leave Ana’s side for the moment. Only she, Jordan, Tobias, Vix and Dianne were left.
Jordan opened the meeting by relaying the news about Florence community and the deaths of Fernando and Rosa. Even though she barely knew them, Alyx found herself hit with sadness at the loss of these two FreeThinkers. And she felt her sadness for Ky swell up once more. Had this all only happened a day ago? It felt like so long ago. When Jordan finished speaking, he was met with a morose silence which was only broken when Dianne let out a small cry.
“God help us all,” Dianne whispered, the tears evident in her voice.
Tobias looked pale. “I need to check with Saudi Arabia…Omniya…”
He didn’t have to finish his sentence. Alyx knew what he feared, what they all feared…that that the Saudi Arabia community had been destroyed too.
Tobias cleared his throat. “Where are the Florence survivors now?”
“They’re trying to seek refuge with the other communities,” Jordan said, “but most of the other communities have shut their gates claim
ing that they are all almost full. Full my ass, those lying bastards. Those cowards are scared that the Darkened will follow them there.”
Tobias sighed. “Their fear is an understandable reaction, Jordan.”
“I don’t damn well understand it. Aren’t we all supposed to be the same race?” He took a deep breath and continued, “Anyway, some are hiding out in their various safehouses. Most are homeless and are squatting in nearby abandoned buildings.”
“Okay,” Tobias said. Then he took a long breath in and it all came out in a large sigh. “I had hoped that we could disperse our Aradale survivors into the other surrounding communities. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we have that option anymore. We cannot stay here for long. We have to start looking for a new place to rebuild our community, but I need to talk with the other Chiefs first. Alyx?”
Alyx looked up.
“How is Israel doing?” he asked gently.
“He’s slowly getting worse. He doesn’t have long unless we can find a cure. Adere is unintelligent at the moment, so she’s no help. Jordan and I DreamWalked Mayrekk as we thought that he may be able to help. But he’s in such a bad way. Michael has been,” she choked a little, “torturing him using a Black Stone blade so his wounds aren’t healing.”
More gasps went up around the room.
Alyx continued, “When we asked him about the demon poison, he said something about the Dark. That we had to find the Dark. I don’t know what that means. We have to free him and not just because he can help us cure Israel. He’s not going to last much longer in there.”
Alyx noticed Vix frowning and mouthing silently to herself. “What is it, Vix?”
“Tell me word for word what Mayrekk said about the Dark.”
Alyx closed her eyes and fixed the memory in her mind. “Mayrekk said, ‘What is in the Dark can save him… The Dark. You must find the Dark.’”
“The Dark…” Vix mumbled. “He can’t possibly mean…”
“What?” Alyx’s eyes flew open and she leaned forward, a spark of hope flaring in her stomach. “What is it? You know something.”
“It mightn’t be anything but…could Mayrekk be talking about…the Threads of Dark?”
“The Threads of Dark?” Alyx had never heard of it. She glanced around the table looking for a sign of recognition on anyone else’s face.
“Isn’t that just a legend?” said Dianne.
Vix pursed her lips. “Perhaps not.”
“Where can we find the Threads of Dark?” Alyx asked.
Vix shook her head. “I don’t know. I have never seen it but…I know someone who has.”
“Who?”
Vix looked pained. “I can’t say who or where he is. I can only take you to him.”
Alyx near flew to her feet. “So let’s go.”
“Hang on, Alyx.” Vix turned to Tobias. “Can you spare me?”
Tobias nodded. “Of course.”
“Before you both run off, we have one more thing to talk about,” Jordan said. “Alyx and I came across a Darkened nest. Eleven of them had taken over a bar named Hell’s Fire downtown. We managed to kill all but one.”
“What happened to the last one?”
Jordan and Alyx shared a look. He nodded at her to continue.
“The demon sent itself back to Hell leaving the mortal alive, but unconscious,” she said. “It admitted that the demon soul doesn’t die when we kill the Darkened. They just get sent straight back to Hell.”
The room erupted in gasps and protests.
“That’s not possible,” said Dianne.
“It is,” said Jordan. “I saw and heard it as well, Dianne. You may not trust Alyx, but you trust me, don’t you?”
Dianne opened her mouth as if to speak. Then, appearing to change her mind, she closed her mouth and nodded lightly to him.
“When we went inside the bar…” Jordan continued, “…it was awful. It was some kind of feeding frenzy. There were close to fifteen mortals…all dead.”
“It was nothing like I’ve ever seen before on patrole,” Alyx said. “They usually hunt in two’s or three’s, no more. Too many of them become too conspicuous. And normally they don’t want to reveal themselves to the mortals any more than we do. But this…fifteen dead in one bar…it’s like they’ve stopped caring whether or not they get discovered. It’s like…they want to be discovered.”
There was a silence as this sank in around the room. Before this, there had been an unwritten rule that kept everybody involved in this terse war in line and stopped things from getting too messy. But now…it seemed the silent boundaries, no longer existed.
* * *
As soon as Tobias dismissed the meeting, Alyx was at Vix’s side. “Let’s go.”
Vix shrugged on her jacket. “Alyx, before I take you, you need to promise me that you’ll do everything I say when I say it.”
“That sounds…ominous.”
“I made a promise to this Seraphim a long time ago that I wouldn’t tell anyone about him. When we get close to where we’re going, you need to let me go ahead and just make sure that he’s okay with you being there. If he is, I’ll come back for you.”
“And if not?”
Vix turned the full force of her crisp blue eyes onto Alyx. “I made a promise, Alyx. I don’t break promises.”
Alyx matched Vix’s stance. “So you’d let Israel,” and me, “die because of some stupid promise?”
Vix rolled her eyes. “God, you are one for dramatics, aren’t you. I’m not letting him die. If we can get this information without me having to break my promise, let’s do that first, okay?”
Alyx deflated as she let out a breath. Why was she turning on Vix? Vix was on her side. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately.” She blinked back tears, realizing that under her anger was a sadness that was welling up from the pit of her soul.
Vix’s face softened and she placed a hand on Alyx’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. You have a lot riding on this, I get it.” She sighed dramatically. “Men. Just bigger-sized boys who still just need saving.”
Alyx attempted a smile.
“That’s better.” Vix slung an arm around her shoulders. “Now, let us girls go save the world.”
Chapter 9
Alyx picked at a leaf of the tree she was sitting in and again glanced around this mountainous forest in China. Nothing had changed in the last twenty seconds since she last studied the area. Around her the air was crisp and fresh with a soft woody smell of bamboo. Vix had been gone for at least an hour now.
She saw a movement in the leaves ahead. Was that Vix?
It was. Finally. With her was an older seraph. Alyx straightened up with interest. Then floated to the ground below to greet them.
“This is Alyx, the girl I told you about,” Vix said as they approached each other.
The seraph took Alyx’s hand in both of his own. “The Guardian, and so young in mortal years. It is an honor to meet you. You did not bring Israel?”
Alyx frowned as she took her hand back from him. “You’ve met Israel?” Then everything clicked in her head as the pieces fell together. This was the Elder who had begun to train Israel to use his demon-powers.
“You’re the Elder,” she exclaimed.
He nodded. “Yes.”
All the questions Alyx wanted to ask bubbled up. Who were you before? Which city were you from? Why did you leave? How long ago?
Evidently, he could see all these questions flashing across her face. “It is best that this is all you know about me.”
Alyx narrowed her eyes at him as a root of mistrust burrowed into her mind. “How do we even know that we can trust him?” she said to Vix.
Vix looked horrified. “Alyx, how—”
“She is wise to question everything,” the Elder cut her off. “Even me.” He turned back to Alyx. “I can see why you were chosen as Guardian.”
“Flattery isn’t going to make me trust you any more.”
He d
idn’t seem bothered by her words at all. “Before this is all over you will have to make more choices about who you can and can’t trust with less information than what little you know about me. Consider this a free lesson.”
Alyx appraised the seraph. Could she trust him? Vix had told her little of him, only that she had known him in a “past life”. But what if his alliances had changed since then? Logic wanted to argue back and forth about trusting him.
She supposed there wasn’t much she could do right now but to trust him. If he knew something about the Threads of Dark, Alyx wanted to hear it. “Let’s see what you have to tell us first.”
He nodded in approval. Then his face became serious. “Vix tells me the circumstances are dire.”
“Israel has been poisoned,” said Alyx, getting straight to point. “A demon-poison, but we don’t know what kind. We don’t have much time. We were led to believe that the Threads of Dark may help us with a cure. And Vix seems to feel that you may be able to help us locate it.”
“This isn’t good news.” The Elder rubbed his chin solemnly. “Yes, the Threads of Dark should provide some answers once you know what poison it is.
“What is the Threads of Dark?”
“When we were first earthbound, the Elders put together all that we knew about the demons into the Threads of Dark: demon species, demon magics, demon myths…and demon poisons. It was once stored in the Archives of the past city of Atlantis.”
Alyx remembered hearing about the once only Seraphim city of Atlantis − the city built upon an island in the Atlantic sea − in Michaelea lectures. The lectures were always brief.
“Where is it now?” Alyx asked.
“When Atlantis fell it was relocated to a secret chamber in Urielos.”
Alyx started. The city fell? “But we were always taught that Atlantis was abandoned because—”
“—because it became too small to house our growing population? Yes, that was the official recorded history. The reality…well, let’s just say that what really happened was something akin to a civil war.” The Elder looked thoughtful. “But this is not the time for history lessons. If you are both willing, I can show you where the Threads of Dark is.”
